Perspectives

Botanical Garden Hosts Nighttime Immersive Event in Kyoto

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By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer

9:36 JST, July 6, 2025

KYOTO — The Kyoto Botanical Gardens in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, is holding an event called “Light Cycles Kyoto,” in which its Conservatory greenhouse is filled with sound and dynamic lights at night. The immersive event allows visitors to experience the fascination of plants at night.

This is the second time the facility has held such an event. When it held a similar event from October to December last year to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the number of annual visitors in the fiscal year exceeded 900,000 for the first time in 30 years. The current event will continue for a much longer period, from May to the end of March next year.

By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
The lighting in the greenhouse makes it look like people are either standing in the light of the rising sun or the setting sun.

The facility is the oldest public botanical gardens in Japan. The greenhouse has existed since its opening, but the current one, which opened in 1992, is the third generation. The greenhouse has a distinctive shape that evokes the silhouette of Kinkakuji temple reflected on a pond and the Kitayama mountain range. About 25,000 plants of about 4,500 species are displayed indoors. As the pathway is a circuit with no steps, the scenery changes in succession, allowing visitors to appreciate various forms of vegetation as they make their rounds.

With biodiversity as the keyword for the event, the greenhouse is divided into four zones and suffused with light and sound. Visitors can enjoy the fantastic sights and smells of a wide variety of plants at night.

By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
The Orchids & Bromeliads Garden room creates a mysterious atmosphere with sound and light.

The event is cosponsored by Kyoto Prefecture, the organizing committee and Mitsui Fudosan Co. The gardens opened a century ago thanks to donations from the Mitsui family, a wealthy merchant family. The company still has links with the family and strongly supports the significance of the current event, which aims to pass on the attraction of the botanical gardens to future generations.

By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
The Dry Tropics Garden room is illuminated at night.

According to organizers, the event is an attempt to show respect for nature and to examine the relationship between people and nature. Moment Factory, a company headquartered in Canada, took charge of the event’s planning and production. The organizers say it intends to “visualize the voices” of plants at night, which are different from during the daytime, and create an opportunity for the next generation to develop a deeper connection with nature.

By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
The Conservatory greenhouse of the Kyoto Botanical Gardens is illuminated at night.

“I came here for the first time in about 10 years, and it felt like a fresh experience. The combination of light, sound and plants was impressive,” said a female university student in her 20s from Kita Ward, Kyoto, who attended the event with her boyfriend.

Advance tickets, which can be purchased until the day before admission, cost ¥2,300 for high school students and older, and ¥1,100 for elementary and junior high school students. Same-day tickets are available at the venue but may be sold out.